I needed a diagram, and timeline and a character list to make sense of this one and I STILL have questions. Come join my Spoiler Discussion for the Angel Maker and help me out.
Spoiler Discussion for The Angel Maker
I’m not doing a complete plot summary, as the plot goes around and around and around through the past. What I found helpful in making sense of this one was a character list and a timeline.
Warning: there are SPOILERS in this character list and the timeline. My Review of The Angel Maker has NO spoilers, but will not help you make sense of the book.
Character List for The Angel Maker
Katie Shaw: mom still traumatized by an attack on her brother in 2000.
Christopher Shaw/Joshua Hobbes: adopted son of the Shaw family, Chris is (SPOILER) the biological son of Alan Lock (Alan Hobbes) and Charlotte Hobbes, and the grandson of serial killer Jack Lock.
Edward Leland/Edward Lock: son of Jack Lock, brother of Alan.
Eleanor Leland: Edward’s wife.
Nathaniel Leland: Edward and Eleanor’s missing baby, who was killed in the fire that Edward set to kill his nephew, Joshua.
Peter Leighton: was watching Nathaniel and is also missing.
Alan Hobbes/ Alan Lock: son of Jack Lock, brother of Edward. A professor of Philosophy and believer in causal determinism, or the idea that the future is set in stone
Charlotte Hobbes: wife of Alan Lock/Hobbes
Michael Hyde: framed by Edward Leland for setting the fire that killed Nathaniel (and possibly Peter?)
The Book: Alan Lock believed he had written a determinist book with the future written down in it. (Okay, I have so many questions about this which are below.) Alan Hobbes used it to save Christopher’s life.
Timeline for The Angel Maker
1954: Serial murderer Jack Lock has his son help him murder a child.
1956: Jack Lock is arrested for murdering four children and then his wife, Elaine.
1976: Edward Lock has renamed himself Edward Leland. He is in love with Charlotte, the wife of his brother Alan Lock, now known as Adam Hobbs.
Alan Hobbes has bought his father’s house, where Jack Lock buried his victims and possibly some siblings of Alan and Edward.
1984: Someone delivers a message to Alan Hobbes, professor of Philosophy, saying “You have committed blasphemy and it will be corrected.”
1985: Hobbes’s wife Charlotte dies in childbirth.
1986: Hobbes’ son Joshua was thought to have died in a fire. The prime suspect is Michael Hyde.
But Joshua didn’t really die. Alan Hobbes knew from his father’s book what Edward was planning. Alan swapped Nathaniel with Joshua. Then he left Joshua in a church, and he was adopted (by the Shaws?)
2000: Christopher Shaw (teenage brother of Katie Shaw) is attacked by Michael Hyde. But we find out that Alan knew about this attack from the book and was able to save him.
2015: Alan Hobbes finds a drug addicted Christopher and offers to help him get sober. Hobbes gives Chris a job at his estate.
2017: Alan Hobbes is murdered
Christopher Shaw, who is now studying Philosophy, vanishes, apparently with a book belonging to Hobbes (The Book, above)
Katie finds an old article about a missing baby named Nathanial Leland in her brother’s things. She asks her mother about it, who says that Katie needs to ask Chris.
Edward Leland/Hobbs wants to buy The Book from Chris.
Michael Hyde’s father tells Katie that her “bastard brother” ruined Michael’s life.
Chris’s boyfriend James contacts Katie because Chris went to meet Edward then went missing. Katie tries to trade The Book for Chris, who was kidnapped by Edward.
Edward Leland dies in a fire. The book Katie brought wasn’t the real book, which was messengered to her by Alan. Because he could see into the future and knew she’d need it then?
This is what was in the third envelope. Because FIRE is a big theme in the book.
Spoiler Discussion for The Angel Maker
Above is a picture of the LaPlace’s Demon card that I got in my mailing from the publisher. And this is what the card says on the back:
Philosophy is a big part of this book. Specifically, the idea of causal determinism, the idea that the future is preordained and knowable by some all-seeing being, like God or a demon.
I took one philosophy class in college and that was enough. Based on just that one class, I did feel like there were philosophy in-jokes, like Alan calling himself Hobbes.
My main questions about The Angel Maker:
1. What is The Book?
Is it the insane ramblings of a psychopath who made his sons believe that he could see into the future? Does John Lock (who’s clearly not sane) think he’s a demon who can see the future?
Or is it actually like a Nostradamus kind of thing, like he is The Demon? Is this book paranormal?
Also, The Book can’t be a book of the entire future because that wouldn’t fit in one book. It seems like The Book just contains the future of the Lock family? That makes more sense. Kind of?
Help me, please! Is this book in The Angel Maker for real?
2. What Actually Happened to Nathaniel and Peter?
I’m adding this because it came up in comments. DID they die in the fire? Were Joshua and Nathaniel actually switched? I took the baby swapping at face value, but what do YOU think?
Please leave ALL your questions, comments and opinions in the comments. If you have theories about The Book I need to hear them!
Check out Man Made of Smoke, Alex North’s new title for 2025!
I just finished this book and am very confused. It had so many complex connections. Your timeline seems spot on.
Glad it was helpful. And I agree – this book was a LOT. I am reading The Whisper Man soon so hoping that is less crazy.
I just finished this book and confused….1) I know Alan took the pills to try to kill himself, but who went in and cut his throat? 2) So, Alan actually could see the future, so that he was able plan all these things? 3) Edward couldn’t see the future, and basically he had been played by Alan all these years? 4) The book did exist and Sam now has it. But what can he use it for? to predict future? 5) What is in the book?
Your timeline seems correct and relationships seem correct too.
I went back and still have absolutely no idea who stabbed Alan. Edward has the most motive for killing him, but if the book hints or suggests or outright says, I missed it. I’m going to add a section to the post and hopefully people will have theories.
The book!!!! I don’t get it at all. Yes, I think that Alan had it. Maybe the book said he was going to be murdered, so he took the pills first? But is this book for real and does it just predict the family’s future? That part got a little weird for me.
Boy I wish I would have seen this blog post BEFORE I read Angelmaker.This timeline and character description is so very much needed when reading the story. Its very all over the place with so many characters its pretty hard to keep straight. …Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE Alex North. His first 2 books were BRILLIANT.This one…not so much. It seems so rushed through. BUt that is completely ok, I know he can spin out more. 🙂
This was first of his books I ever read and whoa was it a LOT for me. Keeping everyone and their multiple identities straight and the timeline and who did what to whom.
I took the notes to help me understand what was going on and decided I might as well share.
Confused on a couple of things… did Alan swap the babies? I was under the impression that he hired the babysitter to take off with Nathaniel and they were never seen again??? Does it say somewhere they were swapped and I missed it? Also, why did Hyde want revenge on Katie’s family when HE was the one who was paid to attack Christopher??
I liked this book but too many loose ends not tied up!
On page 258 it does say swapped: “He (Alan) arranged for Nathaniel to be abducted and delivered to him. And then he swapped the infants, so that instead of Joshua, it was Nathaniel who perished in the fire.”
Alan learned (though the book) that Edward was planning to kill Joshua. So Alan left Joshua in the church to be adopted. When a baby is found in the church, Edward realizes that he has killed Nathaniel in the fire instead of Joshua.
It is confusing and this is the SECOND baby swap book I’ve read in a month. Am I in a 1980s soap opera??
I took that page to mean that’s what Edward assumed had happened but that he was sent abroad with the babysitter like the above poster had stated. That’s the biggest question I have for the whole book. I wish it would have been more clear. Lots going on but I enjoy r the read.
Okay I am super confused. Then where is Nathaniel?
The father has mentioned he suffered in prison perhaps that’s why the revenge was warranted for him?
Good theory, thanks so much! About to read the Whisper Man and excited about his new book!
Agreed. I still can’t figure out the Swapping of the two infant sons and how it was done. It was NOT Alan’s way. Confused!
the Timeline is great I really was lost for the middle portion of this book trying to figure out who was who.
what did you make of the Michael Hyde storyline? I still don’t understand that at all. So he was paid to kill a baby. So he ends up getting away with it and paid why is he so he’ll bent on killing him years later? Then on top of that what is his urge to harm Katie and her family? It doesn’t make sense to me at all for a motive. I was waiting to see what his connection was to Hobbes or Leland but it seems he was just a hired henchman basically unless I missed something.
I am so confused and then as you pointed out it doesn’t say who killed Hobbes or how he knew it was coming I guess that shows he could see the future I dunno.
Also what’s the deal with Charlotte and Leland’s obsession with her? There was really no mention of it as far as did they have history? Why was he so jilted over her?
i really think the book was all over the place and didn’t spend enough time on character development.
Hi Bryan! So glad you found it helpful.
People are finally coming over to discuss the book so curious to see what others think, but yes that was my take: that Michael was hired to be the fall guy.
The Hobbes/seeing the future thing was just too weird for me so I have no insight.
Yes, I think that the Charlotte/Leland thing was just an unexplained obsession.
And yes I agree with you 100%. This was my first book by this author and while I liked the writing, there was just too much weirdness, too many people who were really other people, and too many loose ends for me.
Thanks Jen! So I am glad you saw the same way with Michael Hyde. That remains my biggest question of this book and I have many lol.
Thank you so much for this!!! I thought it just me not paying attention and getting confused. I just started getting into audiobooks (I prefer actual books but I need something to listen to at work overnight) and I had a hard time keeping track of what the hell was going on. Your character breakdown and timeline cleared up a lot for me. It was not a bad book but it wasn’t that great either. It was just too much. Like others have said, it was all
over the place, which made it hard to follow.
I don’t really get the purpose of the Hyde guy. I know he is a fall guy but I don’t think he was needed. I kind of wish there was more background into the brothers growing up. Also, just a better connection/explanation of it all.
I honestly don’t even know what to say in that book. I assume it just predicts their family. Did someone say Sam ended up with it? Why? The book makes him seem like he has some connection to everything but I don’t know maybe I read into that too much but he just seems off.
Hi Beth,
So happy it was helpful! I can’t imagine trying to listen to this, because I had to keep flipping back to figure things out. I do think that Sam ends up with the book.
I can answer one: A real swap of babies was made. It was said that an autopsy was done that showed the baby died of smoke inhalation. Still so many questions. What was in the last page that made Edward go white, and then burn himself up? That’s what I want to know. As for Hyde, he was just a schizophrenic who was the fall guy. Don’t know why he was obsessed with Katie and her family though. Has Alex North himself ever addressed this stuff? AI was no help whatsoever, LOL they’re stumped too.
I re-read the post and now I remember this book, which was completely bonkers. Other readers in the comments had some good insight, but I don’t think any of us figured out what was on the last page of the book.
There’s this new trend of suspense authors leaving things unexplained. Some times it’s deliberate (in this case I’d say yes) and other times I wonder if it’s to drive discussion? I don’t know. A few have written bonus chapters that sometimes clear things up.
I don’t know where my last comment went, but further research tells me that Alex North is absolutely mum on all our unanswered questions. He’s not saying a word. I still love this author and will read everything he writes. So, we get to make up what was on the last page and turn Edward white then red then black. Thoughts?
Sorry! I have to manually approve them because I was getting weird bot comments (sometimes given these books it’s hard to tell what’s a bot comment too…) I’m going to read your other comment and think about it because I haven’t read this book in a while!
Also AI understands almost nothing of a twisty book, a book with nuance, or things implied rather than stated. So maybe there’s hope for human writing!
I got the impression that the last page of the book that caused Edward to go white and set himself ablaze wasn’t anything on the page. Just the realization that it wasn’t his father’s book. The one he was trying to get for 50 years. Also seemed like Hyde was fixated on his failure of killing Joshua Hobbes/Chris shaw. Hence the voice in his head telling him to finish it with Chris in the driveway those years later. Could be wrong but that’s what I got from some of the twists people are confused about. The shadows and whisper man are much more straight forward and both gave me chills towards the end.
Thanks so much for weighing in! That makes a lot of sense. Yes, this book was VERY complicated!